Silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials (hereinafter also referred to as light-sensitive materials or photographic materials) are processed by developing, desilvering, washing, stabilizing and other processes after exposure. A black-and-white developer or a color developer, a bleacher, a bleach-fixer or a fixer, tap water or deionized water, and a stabilizer are used for development, desilvering, washing and stabilization, respectively.
These liquids capable of performing the respective processes are generically called processing solutions. Each processing solution is usually kept at a temperature of 30.degree. to 40.degree. C., in which the light-sensitive material is immersed and processed.
These processes are usually carried out by sequentially transporting the light-sensitive material through processing tanks containing the above processing solutions, using an automatic developing machine or another means.
The automatic developing machine mentioned herein generally means a developing machine having a developing portion, a desilvering portion, a washing or stabilizing portion, a drying portion and a means for sequentially and automatically transporting the photographic light-sensitive material to each processing tank.
In processing using such an automatic developing machine, it is common practice to replenish the processing solution in each processing tank to keep the activity thereof constant.
Specifically, processing is carried out while supplying a replenisher from a replenisher tank to the processing tank as appropriate and necessary.
In this case, it is the common practice to prepare the replenisher itself (to be stored in the replenisher tank) in a separate place and supply it to the replenisher tank where necessary; traditionally, the replenisher has been prepared manually as follows.
The silver halide photographic light-sensitive material processing agent (hereinafter also referred to as photographic processing agent) is commercially available in the form of powder or liquid. It is manually prepared as a solution in a given amount of water in the case of powder. In the case of liquid, it is diluted with water to a given volume and transferred to the replenisher tank before use, since it is available in a concentrated state.
Replenisher tanks may be set next to the automatic developing machine, requiring considerable space. Also, in recently-increasing mini-labs, replenisher tanks are housed in the automatic developing machine; in this case as well, sufficient space must be available for the replenisher tanks.
Any processing agent replenisher is divided into several parts to ensure constantly good performance in photographic processing. For example, the color bleach-fixer replenisher is divided into two parts: the part of the oxidant ferric salt of organic acid and the part of the reducing agent thiosulfate. In preparing the replenisher, said dense part of ferric salt of organic acid and said dense part of thiosulfate are mixed together and diluted with a given amount of water before use.
Said dense parts are placed in containers such as plastic containers, which containers are packed in outer packages such as corrugated cardboard boxes for 1 unit of commercial distribution.
The processing agent replenisher kit of said part agents is dissolved, diluted, mixed and then diluted to a given volume before use. Said processing agent replenisher has the following drawbacks. First, the part agents are separately put into respective containers; some kits of processing agent replenisher comprise several bottles of part agents so that 1 unit of commercial distribution thereof means a considerable number of containers, which requires much space in storing and transporting them. For example, the color developer replenisher for CPK-2-20QA, a processing solution for color printing paper, is available in 10-liter units, wherein part A (a kit including a preservative), part B (a kit including a color developing agent) and part C (alkaline agent) are each contained in a 500-ml plastic container. Similarly, the bleach-fixer replenisher is available in 8-liter units, wherein 3 part agents are contained in respective bottles. The stabilizer replenisher is available in 10-liter units, wherein 2 part agents are contained in respective bottles. These replenishers are stored and transported in respective outer packages of various sizes. The outer package size ranges from about 17 cm.times.14 cm.times.16.5 cm for the stabilizer replenisher to about 18.5 cm.times.30.5 cm.times.22.5 cm for the bleach-fixer replenisher; it is not possible to pile packages of replenishers in storing or transporting them or stocking them in dealer shops unless they are of the same kind so that much space is required afterall.
The second drawback is concerned with the problem of disposal of waste containers. In recent years, there has been strong demand for environmental conservation and saving resources mainly in Europe and the United States; in the photographic industry, plastic containers have been of major concern. Specifically, although plastic containers for photographic use are cheap, conveniently storable and transportable and excellent in chemical resistance, they pose problems of accumulation in the environment because they are hardly biodegradable, and generation of large amounts of carbon dioxide upon burning, which contribute to global warming and acid rain. As for the problems posed on the user side, they include decrease in the available working area due to occupation of the narrow working space by crowding plastic containers, which are too tough to compress.
The third drawback is poor chemical stability. For example, in preparing a color developer replenisher for color printing paper, a given volume of water is placed in the replenisher tank, after which dense kit A, which contains a preservative, is added, followed by stirring, and subsequently dense kit B, which contains a color developing agent, is added, followed by stirring, and then dense kit C, which contains an alkaline agent, is added, followed by stirring, and finally water is added to make a given volume. This series of procedures are liable to be accompanied by some problems. For example, in case of insufficient stirring or the user's failure to add the starting water, the color developing agent tends to separate crystals, which can stay in the bellows pump and fail to be supplied so that the photographic performance becomes labile or the bellows pump breaks. Also, the dense kits are not always used immediately after production; they may be used even 1 year after production; in some cases, the performance of the color developing agent or preservative becomes labile due to oxidation.
The color developer replenisher prepared from dense kits or powder is also known to pose some problems in the replenisher tank. For example, if the replenisher remains unused for a long time, crystals can deposit on the inside wall of the replenisher tank, the replenisher becomes susceptible to oxidation, and tar forms. Under some storage conditions, other problems arise, including separation of easily-crystallizing components of the replenisher, such as the color developing agent, at low temperatures; some makers specify replenisher storage conditions and instruct the users to keep their replenisher under those conditions.
As stated above, when a replenisher, e.g., one for color developer for color printing paper, is prepared using a dense kit or powder used commonly, the abovementioned problems arise; similar problems arise in the case of bleach-fixer, bleacher and fixer.
On the other hand, in addition to the above method of preparing a replenisher using a dense kit or powder, another method is known wherein a dense kit is added as such.
In this method, supplying means such as a bellows pump are used to supply the dense kit as such to the processing tank and a given volume of water is added independently, to improve the low efficiency in dissolving operation. This method certainly obviates solution preparing operation and is free from the problem of poor storage stability because no replenisher solution is prepared, in comparison with the above method, wherein the replenisher is prepared from a dense kit or powder.
However, this method also has many problems. The major problem is size increase in the automatic developing machine because of the necessity for a dense kit tank for supplying the dense kit and a pump as a means of supplying the dense kit. For example, in the case of CPK-2-20, a processing solution for color printing paper, the dense kit of color developer replenisher is divided into 3 parts; the dense kit of bleach-fixer replenisher, into 3 parts; the dense kit of stabilizer replenisher, into 2 parts. To supply all of these dense kits, 8 tanks and 8 pumps are required. In the conventional replenishing method, 3 tanks and 3 pumps for respective replenishers were sufficient. In short, more tanks and more pumps than in the conventional method are required for supplying the dense kits, and a pump for water used to replenisher solutions is also required.
Moreover, dense kits are difficult to maintain due to proneness to crystallization near the outlet of replenisher nozzles because they are dense solutions. Another problem is that the bellows pump is insufficient in supplying accuracy so that replenishing accuracy fluctuates widely in supplying a dense replenisher, resulting in very labile photographic performance. Still another problem is that the amount of waste plastic containers remains unchanged in comparison with the conventional replenishing method even when dense kits are supplied.
In addition to the above methods, some proposals have been made to obviate the use of plastic containers and improve chemical stability.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection (hereinafter referred to as Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication) No. 11032/1983 discloses an art wherein developing components are encapsuled in microcapsules; Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 61837/1976 discloses photographic tablets containing a disintegrating agent. Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication Nos. 109042/1990, 109043/1990, 39735/1991 and 39739/1991 disclose methods using granular photographic processing agents having a particular average grain size.
The photographic tablets containing a disintegrating agent described in Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 61837/1976 are nothing more than easily-soluble tablets.
Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 109042/1990 describes a granular photographic processing agent having a particular average grain size.
However, none of these publications proposes an automatic developing machine which has sufficiently simplified operability and offers stable photographic performance or a compact automatic developing machine having no replenisher tanks.
On the other hand, as a means of obviating the necessity for dissolving operation, Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 11344/1991 discloses an art wherein pasty part agents, in amounts according to the mixing ratio of the part agents, are pushed out from respective unit containers and appropriately diluted to accurately prepare and supply replenishers. Although this method certainly reduces or almost obviates the necessity for dissolving operation, the pasty part agents are difficult to push out in given amounts for long periods, and in addition, when they are not used frequently, nozzle clogging tends to occur, which hampers constant photographic performance. Also, paste containers are required, which must be made of flexible and tough material; it is a common practice to use composite material, which is usually difficult to reuse and hence undesirable from the viewpoint of environmental protection.
Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 123942/1980 discloses a replenisher supplying apparatus for photographic developing process for supplying powder, liquid and diluent water, but it gives no description of a processing agent replenishment controlling means for keeping photographic performance constant.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 85732/1989 discloses an automatic developing machine having a means of adding a tablet fungicide to the stabilizer, but this publication also gives no description of a processing agent replenishment controlling means, and in addition, said means is not an essential component, since its purpose is to preserve the stabilizer itself.